Wednesday, September 20, 2000

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker | 10

Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker is a fine addition to the franchise. It tells the untold story of the creation of Outer Heaven as well as the back story of Naked Snake (Big Boss). This is the direct sequel to MGS3: Snake Eater and MGS: Portable Ops and it completes it rather well. Hideo Kojima both directed and produced this game so I was very excited to see what he could do with it. This game combines all the elements of previous MGS games such as the camouflage system from MGS3, the gameplay mechanics of MGS4, and the system of Portable Ops. But what Peace Walker accomplishes is not gameplay alone, but storytelling. The trilogy of Metal Gear Solid 1,2 & 4 goes through the philosophies of modern warfare and human instrumantality. But the trilogy of Big Boss's story is a more emotional and personal philosophy of how a man goes through war and can overcome himself. The story of Peace Walker revolves around Big Boss as he encounters a tape which contains his dead mentor's (The Boss) voice on it, but she is still alive. As well as encountering that mysterious tape, Big Boss also must stop a nuclear warhead from launching, which is a typical story for Metal Gear.

The story itself is good. The sound is what makes this game very special. For a PSP game, this is really an unbelievable milestone. The musical score is great but I feel that they could've done a bit better. The voice acting is up to standard with previous Metal Gear games with the returning voices of David Hayter with his signature Snake voice, as well as Christopher Randolph as Huey (no spoilers). Sometimes I feel that the voice acting was a bit rushed but the quality of it can make a nit-picker like me to look pass it. For a PSP game, this is probably the best sounding PSP game of all time.

The gameplay in this game is the least to say, very very difficult. I found myself having to repeat various missions because of little mistakes I made. I'm not saying the game requires the player to be perfect but, it does require a lot of stratgy and planning. Since there is only one difficulty setting you don't come to expect this game to be very easy. Although the game doesn't emphasize running and gunning, you can do that it you will but I suggest stealth. This game requires a lot of patience and if you don't have that, than you will be punished throughout the game. The game emphasizes Co-Op, and believe me you will need it because the boss battles are crucial. Although I haven't done co-op yet, I am starting to need it. I am about half done with the game and its only getting harder. Among main missions, there are extra ops which are similar to VR Missions which can help level up weapons as well as pass the time when you don't feel like going straight into the story. The game has a very deep operations system which is basically controlling Outer Heaven, you get to capture people like Pokemon and sort them out to what their specialties are. You can also deploy teams to do missions that destory enemies, capture more troops and receive items as well as parts to building your own METAL GEAR, haha yea I said it, you get to build Metal Gear ZEKE which will be seen in the original Metal Gear game if you know the chronological story. I highly recommend this game to the PSP owners who have been craving for a good game, and Metal Gear fans NEED this game in their collection. Just be aware of the difficulty of this game, its a game thats worth playing and worth your time.

Graphics - This has the best graphics I have ever seen on thee PSP! While still having an Amazing Framerate! 10/10

Story - The story picks up right after the event of MGS3 and MPO. It answers alot of Unanswered questions as well. 9.5/10

Gameplay - The Gameplay in this game is Amazing! Its so much fun and they have added so many weapons and other stuff it makes it even better! 10/10

Controls - The controls will take some getting used to. But its well worth it and it dosnt take to long at all to warm up to. 8/10

Replay Value - There is so much to do in this game its Crazy! I am still shocked Kojima managed to fit this massive game onto this tiny thing! I would say the story would take about 15-30 hours and to 100% it would easily take 50-60 hours and this is not including CO-OP and Multi player. 10/10

Side Note - You may have heard rumors of this game being to difficult. Well thats a lie this game has challenging bosses but they are so fun even the most aggravated gamers wont brake somthing after dying (LOL!). The bosses will take some practice (I had to retry most of them twice). But its well worth it!

Overall - Overall this game is a masterpiece!! I would recommend it to anybody (Especially MGS fans)! I would buy a PSP for this one game its that good! So if you haven't gotten this game get it! Overall score 9.9/10